The Kitsune's Curse
サスケ & ナルコ


A thousand years ago, love was found, a wedding planned, and a murder was committed; since that day, Konohagakure was cursed in recompense until that murdered soul was born again. SasuFemNaru. Kitsune/Japanese Folklore Influence. Twisted Happy Ending and Angst.


Chapter Seven
~ Shiragiku ~


In the night when it's hard to sleep,
enveloped by a tender song, leaning against a wall,
I was thinking about you again.
Thought my heart is heavy, I don't forget
the dream you showed to me, all the love.
No matter what it takes, nothing disappears.
The memories you gave to me;
it is that love which aches tonight.


Sasuke had not expected his meeting, his first real meeting with Naruko to go well. He had not been wrong.

As soon as her initial fear had made way to realisation, a fury only she could be capable of swamped her face, and she had coolly, politely, pulled her hand back, and walked out of the room. As if she had been burned.

She was now seated on the engawa, looking out onto the inner garden from the room she had claimed has hers, and claimed before over a thousand years previously.

One of the younger foxes had left her some rice and grilled fish with smoked vegetables in a thick soy sauce, but she did not take more than a few small bites. It seemed anger dulled her appetite. That was not good though.

Being so close to the hoshi-no-tama could cause some odd behaviours in a human. She needed to eat until things caught up. Sending a silent order to one of the foxes, he watched as after a few minutes one appeared beside her with a dish of abura-age, and nudged it towards her with her nose.

Naruko glared at the fox, and the offering for quite a while before she finally gave in to her hunger, and quickly finished off the tofu and vegetables with rice the vixen had offered her. Then she moved onto the rest of her food.

Sasuke would have approached her himself, but he knew his presence would be an unwelcome one, and he would not disguise himself to her again.

Watching from the corner, a smile crept onto his face as she stared mournfully at the plate where the Abura-age had been. With a small gesture of one hand, he watched as she jumped back when more appeared on it.

He wished he could explain this all to her, but she would come for answers in her own time. Sasuke was well aware of the hurt he had caused her, and that she needed to be angry for a little while. He could see himself being furious if he were in her place.

However, he also knew she would remember. His brother had fallen in love with a human, and every hundred years he had to fall in love with her all over again. They were always happy for a short while, even if Mei did not remember her past incarnations – she was only a human.

Sasuke would do the same if he had to, but whatever form she took now, Naruko was not human. Her true lifeform slept in recovery along with her memories. She was a fox spirit, one of Inari-sama's beloved children. She would remember in time, if Sasuke was patient enough to give it her.

And so, Sasuke maintained his silent watch for only a few more moments, and then headed back inside to his own rooms. There were a few things that needed attending to of he was to ensure the curse on the villagers had worked.

He did not trust the villagers to keep to their own business with this matter. While Sasuke was perfectly happy to have her angry at him for a hundred years or more, he would not let her slip through his fingers this time.


Naruko did not hear Sasuke leave, but she could tell he was gone.

She did not know what to think anymore. There was so much obvious guile in the form of Ryōshi that she should have known his true face immediately, and yet she let herself be taken for a fool, an idiot.

Could he not have told her, or given her some warning? Or was this some twisted little game he played with all the girls? Sakura had never mentioned anything, but Naruko had been reluctant to when she and Ino questioned her at first.

How could she not have known? There must have been plenty of times when she could have guessed the fox's true identity! How could she not have seen them? She had spent so much time with him; he must have slipped up at least once...

Even as she tried to think, nothing came to her that would have been obvious. Worse, he had always seemed so sincere in his affection that knowing his true face scared her. She had so many questions, but she did not dare approach after...

…after their initial meeting.

Naruko blinked and blinked, but the image did not fade from her eyes. The dark hair and eyes in front of her were unmistakeable, but they could not be here...

That was impossible! It couldn't be him! It didn't make sense for him to be here... He could not be him! Naruko blinked again, praying for it to be a trick of the light, but those dad eyes were still staring down at her when she opened them a second later.

She froze as the hand holding hers clenched a little, a thumb grazing over her skin, and realised with unparalleled certainty that she was not dreaming. No, she was stuck in a nightmare, for that was all this could be.

Regaining herself as he took a step closer, Naruko yanked her hand back, holding it as if he had burned her skin and stepping away. There wasn't much surprise on his face, and that just made it worse. He knew she would react poorly, but had beguiled her all the same?

"...I don't understand. Why...? Did you do this to Sakura, Tenten? Is that... We're you so bored that you had to-"

"No, and I'll appreciate it if you would not accuse me as such. To even think of doing so would be degrading and insulting" he spat.

Naruko tried not to balk at his tone, but the fury terrified her. He grabbed her arm firmly, pulling her back and glaring down at her such that Naruko froze again. The face confused her. Why did he have his face? He spoke with his voice too... How could he say he wasn't a monster?

"...I won't try and say I've done no wrong but I will ask you to believe me... I did lie to you, but not... I..."

He froze, catching himself from saying something, then stepped away, releasing his grip on her arm. It was only once he had released her arm that she realised he had not gripped her painfully at all, even clearly so angry.

"...this room is yours to use. If you need anything, ask of it" he growled.

Then he stormed out of the room, closing the shoji doors behind home with an eerie calm. As the door clicked quietly behind him, Naruko collapsed to the floorboards inhaling deeply between heavy sobs she had not realised she had missed.

Naruko still did not understand why he had left, or what he had tried to say. She did know that he had been giving her space however.

He had not approached her at all since he had left the room she had been given. At all. He lingered nearby, she always seemed to be able to tell that much. There was a strong fragrance about him that she could always catch on the air when he was close.

Not that was an unpleasant scent, but it did pose a problem in being exactly the same one she had believed belong only to Ryōshi. She did not know how she was supposed believe they could be one and the same person.

Ryōshi was kind, and easy to fluster. He was distinctly un-fond of the water for a fisherman, but he was patient, and always listened to her worries. He had always known what to do to cheer her up if she had seen the Kamunushi before seeing him, and the flowers…

This spirit was intimidation. She knew nothing of him other than the stories she had heard growing up as a pig for the butchers blade. He scared her. He had killed one of her best friends, and countless others, but claimed he had never lied to her! Was that not lying to her?

She did not understand, and that was the problem. Nothing had been explained. If something was explained, she might feel more at ease with her situation, if not enthused with it. In which case… in which case she would have to speak with the man himself.

The thought was not a pleasant one, but she needed an explanation. Glancing around her room that she had been given, her eyes strayed to the small, chipped ball, to the missing fragment in it that looked so familiar.

There was another thing that confused her. How could that ball be missing a piece that was exactly the same shape as the shard of clear rock contained within her locket? She could not ignore the nagging notion that said she already knew the truth, but she did not believe herself.

"I… I want to speak with you!" Naruko called out, sounding very stupid, calling out to thin air, but it was not as if she knew where his rooms were to knock on the door, and he had told her to ask if she needed anything.

Turning around, she let out a yelp of fright when she found him standing directly behind her already. He waited patiently for her to regain her composure, and she took a small step away from him.

"I want to know why-"

"Why I approached you under a guise?"

Naruko bristled as he finished her thought for her, but nodded. For the first time since she had arriving, she saw a different expression on his face.

"What other way was there?" he asked, and Naruko found she could not think of another way, but it still did not really answer her question. He already had an answer for it before she could reword her query however.

"I wanted to know you. I only intended to do that, but I let myself get caught up in things. It likely seems cruel a thing to have done, but I apologise for it. The last thing I wanted was to make things more difficult I just… I wanted to know you" he said simply

Naruko sighed, realising the implications in his words and not wanting to believe them. It couldn't be her! Maybe she had sympathised with him at some point, and she wasn't much fond of the village, but what clue was that to anything?

"But why? Why now? Why me? I don't understand! How can you think it's me?" she asked, trying to stay calm in spite of how mixed up she felt.

He looked at her, the closed the distance between them. She backed away, hitting one of the solid wood walls, allowing him to trap her. She didn't know what she expected him to do, but it was not what he did.

After wetting his thumb a little, he smeared it over her cheek, revealing one of the whisker-like birthmarks on her face. Her skin burned where he had touched her, and it burned five more times as he rubbed away the thin layers of make-up that covered the others.

"My whiskers…? But they were a curse! The Kamunushi said-"

He snorted, and she held her tongue. She had forgotten for a moment that the spirit was the one who set the curse in the first place. Of course, he would have made something to identify the girl that was the female fox reincarnated but…

"But that's impossible! I'm human…" Naruko mumbled to herself, one of her hands going to her cheek, as if to cover up again the fact that seemed far too easy to see now, so easy she wondered how she had missed it before.

"Children of Inari-sama are tricksters. They take many forms, and they are intelligent. What they learn from on life will be passed on to another. When the villagers killed you, you learned not to show your form in front of them again" Sasuke stated plainly, though his tone implied he was trying to make it easier for her to accept.

His fingers ran over her hand, slowly enclosing them and then he led her away from the wall. She didn't like the idea that he was trying to be helpful; it reminded her too much or Ryōshi, a man who didn't even exist.

Part of her wanted to disagree with the statement. Is told her that in a sense, Ryōshi was a real person. Everything she had seen with Ryōshi was from Sasuke. Hadn't he just said he had approached her under a disguise so he could get to know her?

What was that but the self-same affection that Ryōshi had felt toward her?

"But I don't remember that! I can't be her!" she protested, shaking the thoughts from her head as he led her towards the tokonoma.

"I did not say you were the same person…" the spirit said, still on the same low, gentle tone she had heard Ryōshi san uses so many times previously.

"…of course you would not remember. You share a spirit, but you are different to her. You are a human now, because you have forgotten your own form. You chose surviving amongst humans who would hunt you down rather than your memory when… when the hoshi-no-tama was broken" he stated one more, taking the small ball from the shelf and handing it to her.

She took it haltingly, and very nearly dropped it when it began to glow in her hands, a soft white-yellow glow. In spite of herself, she couldn't help but feel drawn to the small ball. It felt so warm and confronting and understanding in her hands, like holding it would make everything else make sense too.

It felt pale though, as if it was in complete… Naruko bit her lip, thinking of the shard contained in her locket. It could not possibly be what she thought it was. It couldn't be… could it?

"I don't know how to believe any of this…" she insisted stubbornly, shaking her head at the thought of it all.

How could she believe anything he said to her? How was she supposed to believe he actually meant this? How could she do that? What if it was another lie?

As if hearing her thoughts, he took hold of one of her hands once more, smoothing over it with his rough fingers. Slowly, he raised it to his lips, pressing them to the back of it and stilling her breath for a moment.

"I'm sorry" he said quietly.

When she looked up again, he had vanished as easily as he had appeared, and though she did not know for which thing he had apologised for, she could finally believe something he had said.

As she glanced at the stone in her hand, a thought occurred to her; the reason this confused her so much was because she was missing half of the story. She knew the tale of the female spirit of course, how could she not know it? But that was it – it was a story, not the truth.

She needed the rest of the story before she could think about anything.

"Wait! I want you to tell me something else!" she called out.

Turning again, she only jumped a little when she found him behind her. With a distinct goal in mind, she found herself a little more at ease with him.

"I want you to tell me about her. About the fe-"

"Naruto" he corrected; Naruko didn't see that the name was important, but then she stopped that thought. Of course it was important! The female spirit was the doom her ancestors had brought on the village and to the male in front of her…

Well, to say her name wasn't important would have been very insulting indeed. He had waited a thousand years for her, and he was still waiting. He was very unpleasant, and clearly troubled, but to wait for a thousand years… he did have her respect for that.

"…Naruto. I want to know about Naruto" Naruko corrected herself.

Sasuke watched her for a moment, then gestured towards the engawa – a tray with some teacups and tea had already been set there. She took that to mean it was going to be a long story, but she followed him to the seat all the same.

It was about time she figured out the answers to a great many things.


Argh, finally found the time to update something! I wont lie - I havent got alot of time for Fanfiction at the moment. Too may lines to memorise and Homework for college. I am still writing, but please bear with me. I will get around to updating Stupid Sensei again too - this way i have more time to improve my crappy fight scenes and underlying plotlines too.

Naruko is getting to display some of her backbone in this chapter, and she's going to be learning alot in the next xhapter, which will be a flashback chapter from sasuke's point of view, giving us a bit more insight into his relationship with Naruko :)

Hope you liked the chapter.
Nat.
x


Chapter Title; 'Shiragiku' is a White Crysanthemum, and means 'Truth'.
Song Quote; 'I Still Love You Boy' by Tommy February6
Theme Music; 'Jane Seymour's Theme (Composers Sketch)' by Trevor Morris (The Tudors Season III Soundtrack.